Legends of El-ahrairah: Evenings on the Down
by MistressNyx
Summary: My first Watership Down fic! This is the story of El-ahrairah, Rabscuttle, the drought, and the fenced garden with a bit of Hazel, Fiver Bigwig and the rest thrown in for flavor too. There will be more chapters and legends! Please review!


A/N: If you have not read Tales from Watership Down, this might not make as much sense in the beginning. You can probably manage though, but you should still read the book!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Watership Down, so please don't sue me. I just want to write more of this marvelous story!   
  
A Legend of El-hrairah: The Fenced Garden   
  
The sun was fading into the yellow-red wisps of sunset as the rabbits had their silfay on the hill. The down was turned a pleasant shade of pink as the silver-green grass reflected the dim light. Several groups of the rabbits were scattered around, and in one was the rah, Hazel.  
  
"Dandelion, it's a nice summer evening isn't it? And I am pretty bored," said one of the rabbits, who had a thick ring of hair around his head. "Why don't you tell us a tale?"  
  
"I would find that rather enjoyable too, Dandelion," remarked Hazel, chewing on a bite of a rare cowslip that he was sharing with his doe, Hyzenthlay.   
  
Dandelion gazed around at the expectant faces of his companions. Fiver's ears were twitching in their usual, nervous way, but the small rabbit was relaxed and his eyes rested firmly on the storyteller. Bigwig and Captain Holly were sitting up on their haunches, watching his movements. Bluebell licked a paw and Hazel stared at him with nervous anticipation.  
  
"Most certainly, Hazel-rah! I'd be delighted to!" Dandelion exclaimed at last. Everyone let down their tensed poses and settled down into the grass. "So, what shall it be tonight?"  
  
"How about a nonsense tale?" Bluebell suggested.  
  
"No," said Hyzenthlay. "We have had many of those lately. Why not a tale of El-ahrairah?"  
  
"Yes, El-ahrairah!" Bigwig agreed.  
  
The tale-teller smiled. "Of course. I've got a grand one that I don't believe I've told more than once before. How about 'The Fenced Garden?'"  
  
"Magnificent," said Hazel.  
  
Dandelion paused for a moment. The down shone with the beautiful light of the sunset. He could see trees off across the field waving their branches in the light evening breeze. His eyes reflected the red Frith in the west as the buck began to speak…  
  
  
  
There was a time, not as long ago as you may think, that the land was very dry. The grass was withered and brown and it had not rained for hrair days. There were no dandelions, or cowslips, or even clovers. The land was dry. The grass was dry. The sky was a burnt out blue-white and the air was hot. Frith shone down mercilessly and the rabbits were hungry.  
  
El-ahrairah's warren was not faring well. They ate and ate the dried out grass, but it gave them nothing in return. The poor rabbits were starving because there was no green nutrition in the dead plants. The warren was a mass of walking skeletons, downtrodden bucks, wailing does who had to reabsorb their unborn young because of malnutrition and dying rabbits at every turn. El-ahrairah himself was horribly thin and depressed and Rabscuttle was ill with hunger and worry.   
  
The chief hopped into Rabscuttle's burrow one evening during silfay when he could not stand the crying out his starving warren as they tore at the dead grass. His attendant was wedged in a far corner and curled up in a miserable ball. El-ahrairah sighed and sat down beside him.   
  
"El-ahrairah, El-ahrairah! Thank Lord Frith you have come today!" cried Rabscuttle as his chief sat next to him.  
  
"Rabscuttle what shall I do? The land is dry, the grass is dry, and the warren is starving. Frith must be in a rage! Oh, what shall I do?"  
  
His companion smiled weakly. "I had a vision, El-ahrairah," said he. "Over the hill and not far away is a garden! The humans find water and bring it to this garden, so it is green and fresh! We must go there and bring back the food! Then we shall live!"  
  
"But it is only a vision, my friend." He smiled sadly. "I dream of green gardens and green grass by Inle too. We are so hungry that we think and wish for it in our dreams. We will all starve and die. I cannot help that."  
  
"No! No!" said Rabscuttle. "Surely you have not forgotten that Lord Frith promised you that we shall never all die! He sent me the vision of this garden and I know it is there!"   
  
El-ahrairah looked at his long-time partner with sadness. Surely Lord Frith would hold true on his promise, but there needed to be only two rabbits left for that. The warren would die if there was no rain soon. The grass was already reduced to yellow-brown stubs that left no nutrition. His people would certainly survive, but he did not want most of them to meet Inle. It would be...cruel...not to try. "I believe you Rabscuttle," said El-ahrairah quietly. "Exactly where this garden?"  
  
"Look to where the sun rises and there is a hill not too far away. At the foot of the hill is a house and by that house is an enormous garden," said Rabscuttle.  
  
"But we have been to that house many times, my friend! There is no garden!"  
  
"It must be new...I know it's there, please trust me!" The ill rabbit looked and spoke so imploringly that El-ahrairah could not help but comply.  
  
"Yes. I trust you. I will bring out a garden raid team tomorrow morn and we will bring back all the green stuff we can."  
  
"Let me go with you!" cried Rabscuttle. "Please!"  
  
"No," replied El-ahrairah firmly. "You are too weak and sickly right now. I can't afford to lose you. Rest and I will bring food to give you strength. Goodbye for now." The chief turned away up the run without another word. He ran straight up through the passage to the surface. All of his thin rabbits were at silfay, tearing at the roots of grass. Suddenly a loud wailing reached El-ahrairah's ears and he ran to the group were it was coming from.  
  
An awfully skinny doe lay in the center of a ring of other does. One of them, Hlurraien (Fern), was sniffing at the body and wailing and twitching uncontrollably. The others only watched, in a state very near tharn.   
  
"Whatever happened?" asked El-ahrairah, who was very shocked by the scene.  
  
After a moment, one of the does whose name was Tucch Ihn (Grass Tuft) answered, "O Prince! It was awful! Schuer (Leaf) was eating one moment and then...she stopped running. Then Hlurraien fell over her and was sobbing so, that all of us were very near going into tharn! O Rah! It was horrible!" Grass Tuft fell into a fit of crying against the ground.  
  
"I am very sorry," said El-ahrairah, who most certainly was. In his mind this settled it. He was taking a raid group to the mystical garden that Rabscuttle spoke of. He feverantly hoped that the Thousand were faring as badly as his people. If not, the rabbits he took to the garden might perish…  
  



End file.
